Nathan Crabbe: Deep dives into other people's lives

Friday

Apr 7, 2017 at 2:00 PM

On a recent vacation from work, I decided that I also needed a vacation from Donald Trump. For the first time in years, I stopped checking the news for a few days.

I didn’t read any newspapers and turned off the news notifications on my phone to keep me from cheating on my news diet. In addition to clearing my mind of all things Trump, my goal was breaking the bad habit I’ve developed of constantly checking my phone for the latest political developments.

Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep in the house where my wife and I were staying. Without news to read on my phone as a laid awake, what was I supposed to do — spend quiet time contemplating life? The notion was terrifying, so I instead spent the restless nights binge-listening to podcasts.

Two podcasts captured my attention: “Missing Richard Simmons” and “S-Town.” They were like flip sides of the same coin, offering voyeuristic deep-dives into two individuals’ lives.

In the case of Simmons, the exercise guru’s life has hardly been private. As the public has gotten to know him through his exercise videos and talk-show appearances, he has also been personally accessible to anyone who stopped by his Beverly Hills exercise studio, gone on his weight-loss cruises or even took a star tour past his home.

But Simmons abruptly removed himself from the public eye in 2014, so podcast host Dan Taberski sets out to determine what happened to him. The resulting six episodes take a turn from interesting to icky. The whole thing ends up seeming more like someone documenting a stalking rather than an exploration of anything important.

“S-Town” posed a similar risk with a subject who couldn’t be farther from being a celebrity. It starts out with “This American Life” producer Brian Reed getting an email from John B. McLemore, a resident of a rural Alabama town who claims a local resident got away with murder. A major twist turns the ensuing podcasts into an exploration of McLemore's life and his many frustrations.

McLemore ends up being an enthralling character, caring for his mother with dementia at the family farm where he restores antique clocks and builds his own hedge maze. At a time when Trump has revealed the divisions between red and blue America, McLemore has a foot planted in both places. He rants about the threat of climate change and the small-minded residents of his home town, while also spending his free time with its tattooed denizens and adopting one of them as a human restoration project.

The seven episodes delve into very personal territory, including McLemore’s sexuality, but manage to stay away from feeling exploitative. At the end of listening to them, I had the too-rare experience of feeling like I learned about people with different backgrounds and experiences than me.

Now that the vacation is over, I’ve resumed reading the news every day but kept the notifications on my phone turned off. Getting real-time updates on the latest lunacy from Trump just makes me angry all the time. I’d rather get a better understanding of the forgotten people and places in our country than obsess about celebrities who don’t deserve it.